Terence Tao slams AI math as 'automated strip mining' of problems, citing Navier-Stokes chaos
rohanpaul_ai · x · 2026-11-01
Terence Tao voiced concern about how AI is doing math — not about proof correctness. Citing the recent flurry around Navier-Stokes, he says the field is now 'in disarray': people will eventually understand the proof and return, but the process was 'very suboptimal.' He distinguishes a responsible way of solving problems that develops a field from an irresponsible 'automated strip mining' that achieves the immediate goal at the cost of the field itself. Mathematicians wanted AI as a calculator, not a competitor.
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